TIMECOP's Ron Silver Dead At 62
The Tony Award-winner and liberal activist-turned-conservative campaigner succumbed to esophageal cancer on March 15th.
"Ron Silver died peacefully in his sleep with his family around him early Sunday morning," said Robin Bronk, executive director of the Creative Coalition, the New York-based art-oriented political group co-founded in 1989 by Silver, Alec Baldwin, Susan Sarandon and others.
An acclaimed stage veteran and multiple Emmy nominee, Silver also had a number of genre flicks on his resume', including Timecop, The Wisher, The Arrival and Blue Steel. Of course, his most famous big-screen role remains as Alan Dershowitz in the fact-based suspenser Reversal of Fortune.
However, the Manhattan-native started out on a very different path, earning a Master's Degree in Chinese and getting arrested in Leningrad for possessing Chinese study materials.
That was only an early chapter in a long history of political activism. He served as president of the Actors' Equity Association and campaigned for several Democratic presidential contenders. But many of his associates were shocked when this liberal crusader announced in 2004 that he was a "9/11 Republican" and stumped for G.W. Bush.
"If we don't get this right," Silver told the New York Times about the so-called War on Terror, "all the other things don't matter worth a hill of beans."
The actor admitted he lost roles in Hollywood due to his political shift, but he remained a sought-after character player, even earning kudos for a recurring part on the left-leaning series The West Wing.
"I don't think he was rigidly left or right, nor simplistic in his political views," posted BARBARA ROBERTSON at her own appreciation site, The Ron Silver Page. "He displayed independence and intelligence in his many media appearances. I did not always agree with his opinions, particularly about the Bush administration, but I respected his right to express them, as well as the critical thinking that he brought to any topic he addressed."
Ron Silver is survived by son Adam and daughter Alexandra.
[Thanks to Reuters' BOB TOURTELLOTTE, The Washington Post's ADAM BERNSTEIN, and Fangoriaonline.com.]